The efficacy of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) as an alternative to luteinizing hormone (LH)/human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) for the initiation of periovulatory events in primate follicles is unknown. A single bolus of 2500 IU recombinant (r)-hFSH was compared to 1000 IU r-HCG for its ability to promote oocyte nuclear maturation and fertilization, granulosa cell luteinization and corpus...

BACKGROUND The implantation process after embryo transfer depends on the embryo quality and endometrial receptivity. It is estimated that fifty to seventy-five per cent of pregnancies are lost due to a failure of implantation. There is evidence that there is an early secretion of human chorionic gonadotrophin before embryo implantation, and this secretion has been linked to an important functio...

Studies comparing the regressing corpus luteum with the rescued corpus luteum have demonstrated that human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) has effects on cell types that do not express hCG receptors. As progesterone synthesis is hCG dependent and the corpus luteum has been shown to express genomic progesterone receptors, progesterone is a candidate molecule for these paracrine effects. This study...

Granulosa cells (GCs) were characterised morphologically by light and electron microscopy. The steroidogenic capability of GCs in vitro was estimated by radioimmunoassay (RIA): oestradiol (E2), progesterone (P) and androstenedione (A) secreted into the culture medium were measured. The influence of several culture media and anchorage of the cell either to plastic vessels (monolayer) or to colla...

The gonadotrophins follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) are key hormones in the regulation of ovarian function. In the present study, the expression of LH/human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) receptor mRNAs in the human ovary was examined. Northern blot analysis was used to measure relative amounts of LH/HCG receptor mRNA, and in-situ hybridization was used to localize...

We evaluated whether Gonadotrophin releasing hormone incorporation to the Human chorionic gonadotropin protocol improves the sexual response during the natural anestrous season in goats. Thirty-two adult multibreed anovulatory goats (n = 8, four groups), received 20 mg progesterone i.m. on d-1; on d0, all goats received 7.5 mg prostaglandin F i.v. and control group (CG) 0.5 mL of saline i.m., h...